Delicate Flower Chapter 12: Worship

Lin'an City is surrounded by mountains on three sides. The Tiaoxi River slowly bypasses Lin'an City from east to west and flows into the Qiantang River, becoming the main thoroughfare for Lin'an people to leave the city.

The Pei family's mansion was built on Xiaomei Lane in the east of the city. The houses built against the mountain are scattered in good order, occupying the entire Xiaomei Lane. The small river that is introduced from the Tiaoxi River, winds down from the backyard of the Pei family's mansion, and merges into the Tiaoxi Wharf is called Xiaomei River by the people of Lin'an City. And because this Xiaomei River is the only river in the city that leads to the dock and can be used for boats, once you pass the government offices and state schools in the city, there are many river houses and hawkers on both sides of the river, although it is not as good as Changxing Street in the west of the city. It is full of prosperity of shops, but it is also as lively as Changxing Street in the west of the city.

On a summer morning, the sun has not yet risen, and the air is filled with the freshness of vegetation and dew.

Wearing white silk flowers and a plain summer cloth skirt, Yu Tang helped her mother walk through the river houses on both sides of Xiaomei River.

Xiaomei Lane is still far away, and sweat is already breaking out on my forehead.

She took out a snow-green silk handkerchief to wipe her sweat, and then looked towards her mother, Mrs. Chen, belatedly.

Seeing that her temples were wet with sweat, he hurriedly handed the handkerchief over and whispered: "Mom, please wipe the sweat too!"

Ms. Chen shook her head, took out her handkerchief and wiped her sweat, praised her for being "good" and said, "You don't have to worry about Mom, just take care of yourself."

Yu Wen, who was walking in front of them, couldn't help complaining: "I said hiring a sedan chair, but you said it was disrespectful to the deceased. It took a lot of effort to heal your bones, but don't fall down again after all the hard work. Let me tell you, you You shouldn’t come. I’ll just bring Ah Tang here.”

Ms. Chen is thin and tall, with a pale complexion. Her long-term illness makes her delicate features look as pitiful as pear blossoms in the rain. She smiled and comforted Yu Wen: "Okay, okay, I know you care about me. I will do what I can to prevent you and Ah Tang from worrying. The old man of the Pei family has been very kind to me. If I am in good health, I should It is better to go to the temple step by step to pray to the Bodhisattva to bless him and bring him happiness as soon as possible. Going to offer incense to him without any pain is just to deceive him into being compassionate and lazy." At this point, Her eyes became dim.

Ever since she learned about the death of the old man of the Pei family, Mrs. Chen felt unhappy.

Yu Tang hurriedly comforted his mother: "Mom, you also said that the old man of the Pei family is compassionate, and he will not care about it. In the future, when we have the opportunity, we will go to the temple to pray for the old man of the Pei family."

Ms. Chen nodded.

Yu Wen told mother and daughter: "The Pei family has a great business. Although the three branches are divided into families, they are not divided into clans. The old man of the Pei family lives on East Road, and the ancestral hall of the Pei family is also on the east road. But the old man of the Pei family does not There were too many people coming to pay homage, so they stopped in the side hall of the main entrance on the middle road. The male guests offered incense in the side hall, and the female guests set up two other places to offer incense on the east road. One is for those who The female dependents of relatives and old acquaintances are all neighbors like us. When you go in, remember to follow the women in charge and don’t go to the wrong place."

After three days of burial, the mourning hall began to be open to the villagers.

Yu Wen had some connections with the Pei family because of Chen's medical treatment, and he was a scholar, so he went to say hello in advance. He has been helping the Pei family these days, and today he took his wife and daughter to pay homage to the old man of the Pei family.

Ms. Chen had never seen such a large-scale funeral before, so she felt a little apprehensive and responded nervously.

Although Yu Tang was born in two generations, she was detained by the Li family in the backyard of the house. She always went out secretly, and she had never experienced such a battle, but she felt that she had been tortured in the Li family for all those years, and she encountered Be strong when you are strong. Even if something goes wrong and no interests are involved, the Pei family should still be very generous. If there is any problem, they will correct it and if it doesn't, they will be more forceful. I am not very worried.

Perhaps it’s because there are many people in Lin’an City who have benefited from the Pei family. Today is the first day that the Pei family opens its mourning hall. Along the way, many vendors near Xiaomei River are not open, and there are not many people shopping. Wait When she walked to the county school, she found that the county school was not in session and had a white flag hung up.

Yu Wen sighed: "If these junior talents in the county school did not have the support of the old man of the Pei family, how could they be elected every few years? Now that the old man of the Pei family has gone, the Pei family doesn't know who is in charge. Everyone is very uneasy, and most people are afraid that they have no intention to study..."

After hearing this, Mrs. Chen said: "You don't believe Lu Xin's lies, do you? You let the third family be the head of the family instead of the eldest family? Is this going to cause trouble?"

Even the imperial court also established direct descendants and elders.

Yu Wen hesitated for a while and whispered: "It would not be unusual if there were such rumors. The eldest father died of illness in his prime, his two sons have not reached adulthood, and he has never been exposed to the Pei family's general affairs before..."

Chen argued: "Isn't there a person in charge in this family? Who is born with it? As long as you are willing to learn!"

Yu Wen hesitated and said: "But I heard those people talking about it. The two young masters of the Pei family live in the uncle's house. The second master has not been able to count since he was a child... Maybe this is the reason for the rumors."

But if this happens, trouble will inevitably arise in the Pei family.

Brothers working together can break through metal.

If there is an internal dispute, no matter how big a tree is, it may fall down.

Yu Wen and Chen both fell silent at the same time.

Seeing that the atmosphere was not good, Yu Tang smiled and joked: "Dad, why is the place where the Pei family lives called Xiaomei Lane? There are not even plum blossoms in Xiaomei Lane, and there is nothing related to plum blossoms."

She had wanted to ask this question in her previous life.

I just couldn’t find anyone to ask.

Yu Wen said with a smile: "Of course you can't see it. I heard it from shopkeeper Tong last time. It was said that when the ancestors of the Pei family took their family to escape from the world, they found a wild plum tree. They built a house next to the tree and named it Xiaomei Lane. However, the Pei family was prosperous and slowly expanded outwards. The old plum tree had already belonged to the inner house, and it was difficult for ordinary guests to see it. But this Xiaomei Lane Lane’s name remains.”

The family of three climbed the **** slowly and arrived at Pei's house.

There is a vast expanse of white outside the gate.

While the servant is traveling, he is busy but not chaotic.

Seeing Yu Wen, a man who looked like a manager came forward and said hello: "Master Yu is here, please sit in the side hall."

Yu Wen hurriedly pointed at Mrs. Chen and Yu Tang: "My humble wife and my little daughter have received great kindness from the old man. No matter what, they have to kowtow to the old man and burn incense."

There are too many people like this.

The steward politely bowed to Chen and Yu Tang, and called a stewardess who was wearing sackcloth and mourning to come over and asked her to take Chen and Yu Tang to pay homage to Old Mrs. Pei.

Ms. Chen and Yu Tang were polite and followed the woman to the east.

Only then did Yu Tang have time to look at the Pei family's mansion.

It is indeed a giant that dominates Lin'an City. In Lin'an City, which has many mountains and little land, there is a courtyard that can park at least twenty carriages. Like an umbrella, the welcoming pine is even taller than a person, with its twisted branches stretching out, not two feet but three feet. The green tiles and red railings of the corridor that follow the trend are painted with blue-green patterns on the top. The pillars are all wrapped in white silk, and the green trees on both sides are decorated with white silk flowers as big as the mouth of a bowl.

How much money does this cost!

Yu Tang was speechless in his heart.

Then I discovered something even stranger.

On the way, she did not see a single flower of any other color except white.

Wealthy people like to plant some flower trees that symbolize fertility and good fortune. Especially in this season, it is the time when pomegranate and jujube trees bloom. Not to mention these flower trees, such as hibiscus, Common flowering trees like crape myrtle and rose were not seen either.

Yu Tang's steps were slightly stagnant, and he carefully looked at the trees with outstretched branches beside the corridor.

The mother-in-law who had been paying attention to the guests immediately noticed something strange. She also slowed down and said warmly: "What are you looking at, little lady? Is there anything I can do to help?"

Ms. Chen also turned around in confusion.

Yu Tang hurriedly looked away and took a few steps forward to catch up with Mrs. Chen. She was afraid that the old lady would misunderstand that she was peeking into the inner house, so she was uneducated and explained: "I looked at this tree like a pomegranate tree, but it didn't bloom. ..."

The woman was stunned.

Xu was afraid that Yu Tang would misunderstand that the Pei family's pomegranate tree was not blooming, so he thought for a moment and said, "It turned out to be in bloom. Didn't the old man go there? Several masters and young masters in the family looked uncomfortable, so they asked him to Cut it off."

This is actually the reason.

Yu Tang was stunned.

Ms. Chen was also surprised and asked, "Did they all be cut off?"

At first glance, the Pei family has a large area and a lot of flowers and trees. How much manpower would it take to cut them all!

The woman must have been deeply affected by it. She smiled bitterly when she heard this and said, "Who says it's not the case! Ever since the third master disliked the flowers blooming too brightly, for two days, the three managers were busy attending to the funeral and attending to the funeral. He ordered people to cut flowers and trees~IndoMTL.com~We followed him up and down, and we couldn’t even lift our hands."

"Thank you for your hard work!" Ms. Chen said sympathetically, "It will be fine if you have been busy for a while."

Probably because Mrs. Chen spoke very sincerely, and when her tone slowed down, there was a hint of gentleness that no one could match. The woman looked at Mrs. Chen carefully and said, "My husband's surname is Ji." , everyone calls me Aunt Ji. If you have anything to do, you can ask someone to tell me."

Those who can be called "aunt" are not ordinary respectable servants. They are mostly servants who have served the Pei family for several generations. They may also be smart and capable, and are relied upon and controlled by the house owner. The mother-in-law of one party.

Ms. Chen politely called her "Aunt Ji."

Yu Tang felt like he was in over his head.

Ms. Chen couldn’t hear it, but she did.

The person who doesn’t like red flowers is the third master, and the one who is busy attending funerals and instructing people to cut the flower trees is the third general manager. So what are the first general manager and the second general manager doing?

Did the Pei family really change their ways and rearrange their affairs in a place that no one else could see, as Lu Xin said?

She was calm and innocent, telling the aunt in a fairy-tale tone: "The Pei family is worthy of being the head of Lin'an City. There are three general managers. How many general managers are there? My father knows shopkeeper Tong. . My father said that Shopkeeper Tong is very knowledgeable and powerful. So is Shopkeeper Tong the steward or the chief steward of your house?"

Aunt Ji’s eyes became gentle after hearing this, and she said, “Shopkeeper Tong is my in-law.”

In other words, Aunt Ji’s daughter married shopkeeper Xiao Tong.

"Oh, what a coincidence!" Yu Tang and Chen exclaimed in unison, and Yu Tang even vividly told Aunt Ji how she met the Tong family and his son, telling the little girl Shopkeeper Tong praised him very much.